Texas Governor Rick Perry's embarrassing gaffe in the Republican candidates' debate in Michigan follows a long tradition of presidential campaign bloopers in which Lone Star state politicians have often played a stellar role. Whether or not Perry's pratfall ends his hopes of winning the White House, his bungling performance – like that of other unfortunates before him – enlivened an uninspiring eight-way discussion that was as flat as Texas's Blackland prairie.

Texas is to the United States what Yorkshire is to England – a self-appointed God's own country whose vainglorious presumptions of superiority irritate and amuse in equal measure. This phenomenon applies in particular to the Dallas Cowboys football team. But much the same holds true politically. Texan leaders dating back to former president Lyndon B Johnson tend to assume a God-given right to rule. When Perry put his name forward, he instantly gained frontrunner status. Not any more.

This confidence, some call it arrogance, survives the most extraordinary clangers. George W Bush, a former Texas governor, was an acknowledged master of the genre, a man who, in his own words, should never be "misunderestimated". This is the national leader who assured a Michigan audience in 2000: "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." On another occasion, Bush tackled education. "Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?"

For many Bush-ism fans, his address to Pentagon chiefs stands out in a class of its own:

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

Ross Perot, the maverick rightwing Texan independent who ran in 1992, got into hot water when he attended a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) conference in Nashville. Perot wagged his finger at the delegates and referred to them as "You people". His hopes of securing the black vote were never high. After that remark, they were non-existent.

Ann Richards, another Texas governor, was spoken of as a future president after her hilarious 1988 Democratic convention speech in which she lampooned the stumbling style of future president and East Coast patrician, George HW Bush. "Poor George, he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth," she sniped.

"I do not like broccoli and I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm president of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli."

Texan politicians are not always on the receiving end. Lloyd Bentsen, a Texas senator and Democratic vice-presidential hopeful, verbally impaled his opponent, Dan Quayle, after the latter appeared to compare himself in 1988 to President John F Kennedy. "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy," Bentsen snarled. Poor Quayle had other problems, including a much-publicised inability to spell the word 'potato'.

All told, on the embarrassment register, scale of one to 10, Perry has some serious competition. Defeat in the 2004 Iowa caucus produced Democrat Howard Dean's never-to-be-forgotten primal scream, "Yeaarrhh!", replayed endlessly on YouTube as the "I have a scream" speech. It torpedoed his campaign and Dean later admitted to indulging in a "crazy, red-faced rant".

Vice-President Joe Biden, a noted foot-in-mouth-man, left the nation cringing when he addressed a voter during a campaign stop in Missouri in 2008. "Chuck, stand up, let the people see you!" Biden cried. But Chuck didn't stand up. He was in a wheelchair. Michele Bachmann, another 2012 Republican candidate, is also no slouch, as she proved when she praised the founding fathers' efforts to abolish slavery. In fact, they not only tolerated it. They enshrined it in law.

While Perry's "Oops" moment is likely to join the archive of famous campaign cock-ups, his best-worst faux pas may be his statement, earlier this year, that America's war of independence was fought in the 1500s. But Americans don't much care about history and gaffe-makers have a certain charm. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of all this buffoonery is that being a dumb-ass, as Ronald Reagan might have said, is not necessarily a bar to office. If Perry makes it to the White House, the joke's on us.